Heat up 4 gallon fresh row cow's milk to 94°F / 34°C. If no such milk is available to you, use creamline (non-homogenized) milk but pre-inoculate it 24-36 hours in advance while it is cold and refrigerate until cheesemaking time (6.65pH, more if pasteurized)Culture with:1/4 tsp PLA (you can also use a mix of equal amounts of KL71 + SR3 + Geo15)1/8 tsp MY800 (or Thermo B)1/8 tsp Flora-Danica (Or Probat 222)If you are using pasteurized milk (not recommended), you would want to add your ½ tsp CalCl2 dilution in ⅓ cup of water right now.

Hey YoavIn preparation of my first Reblochon make, could you please clarify the above pre-inoculation for me. I will be using non-homogenised, pasteurised milk, with your Reblochon molds. (I can't wait for them to arrive )

Do I inocluate with the PLA, MY800 and Flora Danica while the milk is cold AND the CalCl2, or only add the CalCl2 when the milk is heated to 34C??

Thanks again for all your help so far.

CheersSharon

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You have to be a romantic to invest yourself, your money, and your time in cheese.― Anthony Bourdain

Sharon, I am so excited about you giving it a go!Pre-inoculation is just a way to create some life in the pasteurized milk before you get to use it. I would only use the Flora Danica for that. No calcium or ripening (rind) culture. You can also use the MY800 with it. Just put half the amount you need for cheesemaking in the milk jug. Wait a few minutes for it to reconstitute. Shake the milk jug so it distributes in the milk (but don't make a milkshake/cappuccino out of it!). Refrigerate until cheesemaking time. You can also give it another shake every 12 hours or so.During cheesemaking, once the milk had reached 34°C you use the second half of the starter culture (you can ad a tad more) and then you also use the full dose of ripening culture and calcium. Is that more clear?

Haven't been here in a while (again), I only make (mostly, when I do) chaource, crottin, etc in the summer months cos of how busy I am. Of course, with the cooler weather coming back, it's time to jump in again. Most of last winter & spring's cheeses are gone, so we need to stock the cave again. I've been thinking of Reblochon for a while now. And thanks to this post..I'm going to get my feet wet, so to speak.

Woo hoo! Keep us posted, will you? I am glad to see so many people trying it. Lots of people who have never posted on the forum came out of the blue and sent me messages and questions about this. It's really nice! I hope they can post some photos.

OK, I've been though this a couple of times now and think I'm starting to get it. An issue for me is the 95% RH during the drying period. I'm not sure how to get this done insofar as the ambient RH here in Montana is about 35%. Short of building a dedicated "drying cave" with its own humidifier - which I might just do if that's the only answer - is there some other approach? Would just putting it in a seal mini-cave at the 62 degrees solve that?

You could try putting the cheeses in their own box, or even two to a box, with lid slightly ajar to regulate the humidity, then place those boxes inside a large chilly bin. You can then regulate the temperature with ice packs, which would probably need to be changed out morning and night.

That's what Yoav suggested to me, although I had my boxes inside the cave and could regulate the thermostat to get the right temperature.

My Reblochon are still a couple of weeks away from trying but they are wrapped and in the colder, house fridge for their final aging. They are pretty stinky but I can't wait to try one.

Good luck Dave. You will be pleased you tried this make.

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You have to be a romantic to invest yourself, your money, and your time in cheese.― Anthony Bourdain

Yes Dave, I agree with all here, just put them in a container and put that in your cave, adjust the lid to get the right humidity. The young cheese still drips and sweat so much moisture, you will have no problem getting 95% humidity.

As far as drying them at such high humidity, yes, it does sound like an oxymoron, but remember that relative humidity is the amount of water vapor in the air relative to the maximum vapor that air can hold -not air that's 100% water. If air at that temperature and atmospheric pressure can hold 1% water vapor before the vapor turns into water droplets or condensation, 95% RH is really 95% of that 1%. That's still more than 99% air - so the cheese will dry.

This is a lot like cheese brine. If you ever made saturated brine you know that water get saturated with 26.5% salt maximum. If you keep pouring salt into it you will find salt crystals on the bottom of the container which will not dissolve because the 100% salt saturation point has been exceeded. Same thing with air in a box. Once you reach 100% saturation, any excess vapor just turns to droplets on the box.

So, a perfect trick to know if you are at about 95% RH without using a hygrometer is to look at the box. If you see tiny water droplets sticking to the lid and they are just shy of being large enough to form drops, then you are at the right place. Once you practice that enough you will easily be able to guesstimate how much to open or close a lid at any day, for any cheese!

I'm excited to try reblochon/"reblotin" soon. 50/50 cow/goat milk, I can do that with some good creamline in the near future. Hartzler's milk is all natural, LTP creamline from Holsteins. Should I pre-ripen it even if blending with raw goat milk? In the spring if I were to try with 100% raw goat milk will I want to reduce the ripening time?

You are welcome!If you are using creamline milk you would be better off pre-ripening it. If mixed with goats milk - it's up to you. You don't have too but depends on your result, you may be able to give it more character with pre-ripening.

So the story of "Reblotin" is that it's kind of a temporary working title of an experiment I am working on for my upcoming creamery. The name is derived from Reblochon and Chevrotin. Chevrotin is really a goat's Reblochon. It's an incredible cheese that is insanely grassy, intense flavorful and exciting to eat. Most of those who make it are actually farmstead Reblochon makers who are members of the Reblochon de Savoie AOC/DOP co-op. Chevrotin des Aravis is also a protected AOC/DOP cheese and all of those makers are also members of that co-op.

So... if you make Reblochon from goats milk, you now know what it is. I think you should age it at the same rate of time as the cow's milk. I would reduce the thermo and increase the meso by just a tad so it keeps this creaminess.

Here's a photo of Chevrotin des Aravis I got a few months ago (At the Borough Market in London. ...they are not legal in the US). It's the 2nd one from the right. Notice that the rind is far more red and bold. I still dream about it at nights